Eason v. State

916 So. 2d 557, 2005 WL 3372884
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 13, 2005
Docket2004-KA-02500-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 916 So. 2d 557 (Eason v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eason v. State, 916 So. 2d 557, 2005 WL 3372884 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

916 So.2d 557 (2005)

William Gregory EASON, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2004-KA-02500-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

December 13, 2005.

*558 David L. Walker, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., BRIDGES and GRIFFIS, JJ.

BRIDGES, J., for the Court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. On November 10, 2004, a jury sitting before the Second Judicial District of the Tallahatchie County Circuit Court found William Gregory Eason guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud and eight counts of voter fraud. Consequently, the circuit court sentenced Eason to a one year sentence for conspiracy to commit voter fraud. As for the eight counts of voter fraud, the circuit court sentenced Eason to another one year sentence, set to run consecutive with the first one year sentence, and seven additional one year sentences, all to run concurrent with the second one year sentence. In effect, the circuit court sentenced Eason to incarceration for two years. Post-trial, Eason filed unsuccessful motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, for a new trial. Aggrieved, Eason advances two issues, listed verbatim:

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DEFENSE COUNSEL'S OBJECTION TO THE STATE'S "SEND-THE-MESSAGE" TYPE ARGUMENT.
*559 II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY SUSTAIN[IN]G THE STATE'S OBJECTION TO DEFENSE COUNSEL'S LINE OF CROSS-EXAMINATION OF MINNIE SAULSBERRY.

Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On August 26, 2003, Jerome Little challenged incumbent Eddie Meeks in a run-off election for the position of District Five Supervisor for Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. Jerome Little's campaign recruited help from many people. Two of those people were Greg Eason and Minnie Saulsberry.

¶ 3. Between the primary election and the run-off election, Little sent Saulsberry to Tutweiler, Mississippi to pass out campaign literature. Once she finished that assignment, Little told her to assist his cousin, Greg Eason, with absentee ballots. Additionally, Eason and Saulsberry were in charge of getting absentee voters to the Tallahatchie County Circuit Clerk's office; particularly, those voters without transportation. Saulsberry told Little that she was not familiar with the absentee voting process. Little eased her mind when he explained that Eason, familiar with the absentee voting process, would handle the absentee voters. Little expected Saulsberry to provide Eason with transportation.

¶ 4. On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, Eason and Saulsberry drove around Tallahatchie County and looked for potential absentee voters. They stopped at a popular congregating spot, approached Willie McNutt and Johnnie Mae Allison, and offered to take them to the circuit clerk's office so they could vote absentee. Willie McNutt did not know who the candidates were and only voted because Eason and Saulsberry asked him to vote. Johnnie Mae Allison testified that she voted because Eason and Saulsberry offered her three cans of beer, which they gave her after she voted.

¶ 5. On Eason's instruction, McNutt told the deputy clerk that he would be out of the county on election day, though he knew that was not true. According to McNutt, neither Eason nor Saulsberry offered him any money for his vote but Saulsberry gave him a couple cans of beer.

¶ 6. Later, Eason and Saulsberry visited Christine Beler's house. They asked Beler to get some people to vote the next morning. Beler told them that she would get a group of people to vote if Eason and Saulsberry put gas in her car. On Thursday, August 21, 2003, Christine Beler fulfilled her promise. She drove her car to the circuit clerk's office to vote absentee. She did not go alone, though. She brought Patricia Hervey, Sharon Greer, and Dorothy Fultz with her.

¶ 7. Eason and Saulsberry met Beler and her group at the circuit clerk's office. Eason told the group of voters that they could not vote absentee unless they told the clerk they would be out of the county or working on election day. Further, Eason told them that he could help them vote only if they asked the deputy clerk for Eason's help.

¶ 8. Patricia Hervey voted "to get it over with" and because she heard that someone would "make it worth her while" if she voted. Patricia Hervey and Sharon Greer told the deputy clerk that they would be out of the county on election day, though they knew that was not true.

¶ 9. When Patricia Hervey tried to vote absentee, Eason intervened. According to Patricia's testimony, the deputy clerk gave Eason an absentee ballot which Eason then gave to her. She voted for Eddie Meeks, but Eason told the deputy clerk that Patricia "messed up." Eason then *560 gave Patricia's ballot back to the deputy clerk, who marked it as a "spoiled" ballot. Next, the deputy clerk gave Patricia another ballot. On that ballot, Eason pointed where he wanted Patricia to vote, so she complied.

¶ 10. Sharon Greer testified that she voted for Jerome Little because Eason stood over her and told her to vote for him. Dorothy Fultz also testified that Eason told her for whom to vote. This bothered Sharon Greer and Dorothy Fultz to the point that they voted again on election day. Sharon Greer testified that she voted again because Eason made her vote for Jerome Little but she wanted to vote for Eddie Meeks. Dorothy Fultz testified that she voted again because she did not like that Eason told her for whom to vote.

¶ 11. After Beler's group voted, they went back to Beler's house. Eason and Saulsberry met them there. Patricia Hervey and Sharon Greer testified that Eason asked them whether they wanted five dollars or beer. Patricia Hervey and Sharon Greer responded that they wanted both, so Eason and Saulsberry gave them both, though the money was in the form of a check made out to Beler. Beler cashed the check and divided the money. Dorothy Fultz testified that she did not want to go with Beler when Beler cashed the check. Additionally, Dorothy Fultz testified that she asked Beler to use her portion of the money and buy her a pack of cigarettes. Beler complied.

¶ 12. On Friday, August 22, 2003, Eason and Saulsberry went to Dorothy Fultz's house. They did not go to meet Dorothy though, as she voted the previous day. Instead, they met Dorothy's daughter, Gwen Fultz and got another group of individuals to vote absentee.

¶ 13. Gwen drove herself, her brother Booker Greer, and Booker's girlfriend Jeanette Wallace to the circuit clerk's office. Additionally, Gwen's other brother, Jimmy Fultz, rode to the circuit clerk's office with Eason and Saulsberry.

¶ 14. Gwen Fultz and Booker Greer testified that they voted absentee because Eason told her that he would give her five dollars and a beer if she did. Jimmy Fultz testified that he voted absentee because Eason told him he could have five dollars and "refreshments" if he voted. On Eason's instruction, Gwen, Jimmy, and Booker told the deputy clerk that they would be out of town on election day, though they knew that was not true.

¶ 15. Booker testified that Eason gave him a beer after he voted and, a couple days later, Eason gave him five dollars. Gwen got a can of beer for her vote, but she never got the five dollars Eason promised her. When the investigator from the attorney general's office approached Gwen, Gwen thought the investigator visited her to finally give her the five dollars Eason promised her. As for Jimmy, Eason gave him some beer but did not give him the five dollars he promised him.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
916 So. 2d 557, 2005 WL 3372884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eason-v-state-missctapp-2005.